US President Joe Biden is attending the Quad Leaders Summit at Kantei in Tokyo
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “dark hour in our shared history” Joe Biden told a key meeting with allies in Asia.
The US president today warned the war in Europe had become a “global issue” as it threatens international food and energy supplies.
Meeting with leaders of Japan, Australia and India, Mr Biden said the conflict underlines the importance of defending the world order.
In his opening remarks at the summit in Tokyo, Mr Biden said the meeting was about “democracies versus autocracies, and we have to make sure that we deliver”.
The war will “affect all parts of the world” as Russia’s blockade of Ukraine grain exacerbates a global food crisis, he added. He also reiterated the US’s commitment to defend international order and sovereignty “regardless of where they were violated in the world”.
Mr Biden’s comments come a day after he said Washington would be ready to intervene militarily to defend Taiwan following fears China, emboldened by Vladmir Putin’s actions, may attempt to seize the territory.
The warning prompted China to accuse the US of “playing with fire”.
Mr Biden, Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida, Indian PM Narendra Modi, and Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese attempted to present a united front at the summit. But India’s refusal to condemn the invasion, or impose sanctions on the regime, has forced the loose alliance, known as the Quad, to issue an ambiguous condemnation of the Kremlin’s actions.
A joint statement released by the alliance stopped short of explicit criticism of Russia. Mr Kishida described the conflict as a “grave incident which has fundamentally shaken the rule-of-law-based international order” that “challenges the principles which are enshrined in the UN’s charter”.
“We should never, ever allow a similar incident to happen in the Indo-Pacific,” he added.
It comes as Putin’s forces hit “strong resistance” as they attempt to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Donbas.
British defence chiefs said today that Ukraine’s highly-trained Joint Force Operation still controls the swathe of the Luhansk province in eastern Ukraine with its soldiers “well dug-in” in defensive positions.
But Russian onslaughts using heavy artillery bombardments had led to some “localised successes” for Putin’s generals. The Russian encircling operation still has some 25km of ground to gain to be completed, according to the British military chiefs.
Global defence leaders yesterday agreed to send more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a Harpoon launcher and missiles to protect its coast.
